When are we going to hear news on the Salah, Virg and Trent contracts..

[Insidious]

Btw I see the vodka typo. Can’t edit on iPhone without deleting so it may stay there 😂😂

I think it absolutely should.

It will be referenced in the dark Winter months when everyone is feeling low.

[BOBPAISLEYFAN]

Imho, ask any supporter and the general consensus will be, success is primarily measured by the amount of trophies won in a season, win all four clearly that is a once in a lifetime season season, win the Champions League, the Premiership and the FA Cup thats just an amazing season, replace the FA Cup with the Carling Cup still amazing but not quite the same, Win the Champions league and the Premiership still an amazing season, but not as good as winning three trophies and so on…

So for arguments sake, lets say we win the Champions League and Premiership this season and we repeat this success over the next three seasons in a row, without spending a penny, will we actually give a fuck about our lack of spending.

When we focus on total monies spent as a measure of commitment, what exactly are we saying…

Lets just say FSG pull their fingers out, throw their sustainability model in the bin and decide to spend under Slot similar sums in the transfer market to Man Utd, Man City, and Chelsea, to satisfy the demands of a fan base that wants us to compete on a like for like basis, whilst in the meantime happy to risk the potential PSR and FFP punishment in the process, and yet we go on to win fuck all, is that seen as acceptable, and we will be happy with that lack of success because at least we spent the same as everyone else.. so on that basis we can forgive them…

The answer is clearly no, however, if Chelsea this season go on to win the Premier League, FA Cup and Carling Cup this season and then repeat this success next season adding the Champions League, nobody will be laughing at their current transfer policy.

It’s possible but highly unlikely, the truth is spending money helps but it is no guarantee of success, regardless of how well you have done your due diligence, and how much you have spent… buying players is a fucking lottery.

FSG have spent £1.2B on transfers in the past 10 years, and they have cleverly managed to recoup over £740M in sales… could they have spent more, and been better of course they could have.

However, would it have guaranteed any more trophies..no, could it have helped yes… but lets be honest here, with just a little bit more luck in just four games, Klopp could have won two more Premiership titles and two more Champions League trophies…

So whilst we all want success, we all want the best players, we all want to watch the best football, the truth is if we did win everything every year, we would soon become bored with it, its the difficult troughs you experience that makes you appreciate the peaks that much more….

Hey ho who said supporting Liverpool was easy, thats why its so brilliant, winning against all the odds is what we are famous for…. not winning at a canter week in week out…

Personally, i think deep down I just love the jeopardy of it all.. the taking part, if we win, bonus, if not hey ho lets focus on the next game…

[Steveo]

£2.3 billion for the PGA….?

How? where are the funds for this? Are they sitting in a mates bank? If so - how was such a surplus achieved?

…OR

…are they in fact leveraged against our club and other “assets”…?

[miller0863]

Way waaay off the mark with what is affecting the current fan base mood Bob.

No one expects us to spend unsustainable amounts of money in the transfer market, no one.

But this current situation is ridiculous.

Our best manager since Paisley, gone. So we are surely going to look after the squad, couple of top level signings in the right positions. Gaps in the squad we have all known about for 3 windows and done nothing about them, at 6 and CB.

Our best 3 players’ contracts all running down this year, how on Earth has that been allowed to happen??

Where’s the succession plan for our main source of goals, Mo Salah??
Not a player in the squad who can remotely cover that position adequately, even to give him a rest and no sign of us even thinking about it …

These are the main points we are pissed off about and sorry Bob, you post some good stuff but that one just comes across like a load of FSG apologista nonsense.

[BOBPAISLEYFAN]

Way waaay off the mark with what is affecting the current fan base mood Bob.

No one expects us to spend unsustainable amounts of money in the transfer market, no one.

But this current situation is ridiculous.

Our best manager since Paisley, gone. So we are surely going to look after the squad, couple of top level signings in the right positions. Gaps in the squad we have all known about for 3 windows and done nothing about them, at 6 and CB.

Our best 3 players’ contracts all running down this year, how on Earth has that been allowed to happen??

Where’s the succession plan for our main source of goals, Mo Salah??
Not a player in the squad who can remotely cover that position adequately, even to give him a rest and no sign of us even thinking about it …

These are the main points we are pissed off about and sorry Bob, you post some good stuff but that one just comes across like a load of FSG apologista nonsense.

Thats an interesting interpretation of my post, at no point was I trying to assess what was affecting the current fan base, listen I will admit that I am not particularly anti FSG, but neither am I an apologist for their failings…

I am just of the opinion that spending big money is not the cure all that many on this forum seem to believe it is… yes if its spent wisely I am all for spending big money on the right player, but hindsight is always used as justification when big signings work well, most people thought losing Coutinho was typical FSG selling our best players undermining Klopp, but the subsequent success of both Virg and Alison with hindsight, makes the sale seem justified… if Virg and Alison had not worked, all of our perceptions would be somewhat different.

Last season we nearly spent £115M we could probably ill afford according to FSG on Caicedo, hindsight has shown we dodged a fucking bullet but at the time the fan base was gutted, so I think that just highlights the fine lines we are talking here..

Whenever i post, i try to offer what I think is a balanced view rather than one biased for or against FSG..

If my post came across as anything other I apologise, that was not my intention..

I never said we shouldn't spend, it’s just how much should we spend given there are guarantees the new signings will improve anything.

However, like everybody else, I am staggered that we have seemingly failed to not only identify any potential signings to fill in all the 4 key positions that we clearly need to address, namely a left sided Centre Half, a top class left back, a world class DM and a back up to Salah, the fact we have only tried to sign one of those seemingly obvious signings and failed miserably in the process, is wrong on every level.

Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes were lauded on their arrival, but to date we have seen nothing or heard anything that inspires confidence and with only just over a week left, their tenure to date is looking pretty poor, hopefully they do have something in the pipeline, but its not looking likely and if that is the case, they will be deserving of all the criticism that is about to come their way.

The contractual situation with Virg, Salah and Trent, should really have been resolved on Klopps watch, but that too is another reason why Messrs Edwards and Hughes will be in the crosshairs if they fail to get this resolved asap.

I must say though, how much do you think FSG need to actually spend this window to fill all of the above positions…and if they did spend that.. would you feel reassured by that.

[miller0863]

I would feel assured if they had identified targets for at least 6 and CB and brought them in, whether they were £20m each or £50m each, as long as their detailed analysis and scouting system said they believed the players to be good enough.

I didn’t complain about Andy Robertson coming in for £8m, I trusted they knew what they were doing.
It’s not about spending hundreds of millions it’s about having a balanced squad with cover in the right areas.

We were way too easy to score against last season because we didn’t have a defensive midfielder in the squad worthy of the name, We all knew Endo was a stop gap, he knew he was a stop gap, so why are we leaving it to the last knockings of the window to make our first approach?

And in particular to a player who has already knocked back Arsenal and Bayern because he didn’t want to leave Spain??

Begs the question were they even serious about buying anyone?

The £115m Caicedo money has been topped up so far by around £44m from Carvalho, Solanke and Clarke, plus by the sound of it around £30m from SVB and around £40m from Gomez if anyone fancies him.

That should be around £220-230m to strengthen the squad, without spending a penny above budget.

And yet here we are, less than a fortnight to go and not a single player brought in.

With our 3 main men no nearer extending, with our stop gap 6 another year older and probable only 3 senior CB’s to our name, as far as our squad is concerned this window is looking like a complete and unmitigated disaster.

By this time next year we could need, at least 2 CB’s, an LB, a 6, cover at RB and a RWF to replace Mo.

Forward planning is non existent

[CCTV]

From season 2014/15 to season 2023/4 inclusive, 10 seasons, we have spent £1.215B, recouped £ 740M…

Net spend per season, £ 47.5M

Net spend per window, £ 23.75M

Fuck me thats mad… it would be interesting to see what the squad was worth in season 2014/15 compared to season 2023/24.

If FSG believe that Slot can achieve similar miracles as Klopp on such a limited budget, they are genuinely deluded, hopefully they will wake up soon, and give Slot the necessary funds to try and seamlessly continue Klopps brilliant legacy, if they dont we could potentially find ourselves sleepwalking into mid table mediocrity…

€924.5 currently

Sqad value €955.85 in 2023/24
https://www.transfermarkt.com/liverpool-fc/kader/verein/31/plus/0/galerie/0?saison_id=2023

Squad Value €315.75 in 2013/14
https://www.transfermarkt.com/fc-liverpool/kader/verein/31/saison_id/2013

And here's a thread i did that asses net spend against market value changes in squads worth.

https://forums.lfconline.co.uk/showthread.php?310133-Top6-spends-analysed-by-MV-13-14-onwards&highlight=Net%20spend&p=2815830#post281583 0

[BOBPAISLEYFAN]

I would feel assured if they had identified targets for at least 6 and CB and brought them in, whether they were £20m each or £50m each, as long as their detailed analysis and scouting system said they believed the players to be good enough.

I didn’t complain about Andy Robertson coming in for £8m, I trusted they knew what they were doing.
It’s not about spending hundreds of millions it’s about having a balanced squad with cover in the right areas.

We were way too easy to score against last season because we didn’t have a defensive midfielder in the squad worthy of the name, We all knew Endo was a stop gap, he knew he was a stop gap, so why are we leaving it to the last knockings of the window to make our first approach?

And in particular to a player who has already knocked back Arsenal and Bayern because he didn’t want to leave Spain??

Begs the question were they even serious about buying anyone?

The £115m Caicedo money has been topped up so far by around £44m from Carvalho, Solanke and Clarke, plus by the sound of it around £30m from SVB and around £40m from Gomez if anyone fancies him.

That should be around £220-230m to strengthen the squad, without spending a penny above budget.

And yet here we are, less than a fortnight to go and not a single player brought in.

With our 3 main men no nearer extending, with our stop gap 6 another year older and probable only 3 senior CB’s to our name, as far as our squad is concerned this window is looking like a complete and unmitigated disaster.

By this time next year we could need, at least 2 CB’s, an LB, a 6, cover at RB and a RWF to replace Mo.

Forward planning is non existent

The loss of such an iconic manager in Klopp and his brilliant coaching staff in the summer, is such a difficult situation for any club to navigate. To complicate matters still further, we also have a new Chief Executive of Football in Michael Edwards and a new Sporting Director in Richard Hughes whose first job was to identify and appoint a new Footballing coach to replace Klopp, once they chose Arne Slot, they have also had to ensure that Slot is able to appoint his own preferred coaching staff.

To complicate matters still further Slot has had to go on a pre season tour without most of his first team squad, which further complicates Slots ability to fully assess the squad at his disposal and decide where he would like to strengthen and where he would like to streamline his squad.

So in defence of Edwards and Hughes, as I understand it, their data analysis is based on a very forensic approach and under normal circumstances this takes them several months and in some cases years. Unfortunately, the one thing they don't have this summer is time, and they also have to try to understand and grasp the style of player Slot actually prefers….

So given all of the above, its little wonder this window seems to be a bit of a car crash at best and amateurish at worst…

I do think that the selling of squad players and youngsters who were never going to be first team players, is proof positive that Slot’s process to assess and improve our squad has begun, hopefully we will see some top signings before the end of this window, but unfortunately at this moment in time its not looking likely…

However, if we do end up selling Gomez and SVB this window, we really do have to sign a top class left footed centre back and a top class Defensive midfielder before the end of this window… which I would imagine will cost us probably somewhere in the region of £120-150M, if we don't manage to actually sign anyone in these two positions, after selling Gomez and SVB, questions will have to be asked.

If, and it's a big if, we can actually pull off the signing of a top class left footed centre half and a top class Defensive midfielder before the end of this window, I can live with that… but if we can in addition to these signings, we can also sign a top class left back and back up to Salah, I think this will cost us at least another £100M,

So in total I would agree, to sign the level of quality we need in these 4 positions, they will cost somewhere between £220-250M, which would amount to about £120M net… if we could actually do that, i really think we will have a chance to compete at home and abroad….

Hey ho, like everyone else I think it’s unlikely, but as always we live in hope..

[miller0863]

Fair points Bob